Straightening Teeth

January 29, 2009

On Monday I took Kyle to the orthodontist to find out about braces. His teeth are far from striaght, making good oral habits difficult. Our dentist suggested that we should look into braces soon so Kyle would have an easier time keeping his teeth clean and healthy. The orthodontist that we went to see, Dr. Kaufman, came highly recommended. He looked at Kyle’s teeth, made recommendations and suggested we start as soon as possible. As it turned out, ASAP was Tuesday morning.

Kyle, Tuesday morning, before braces

Kyle, Tuesday afternoon, talking to grandma on the phone, telling her about his new hardware…

As the hygienist was showing me what was in Kyle’s mouth, I was amazed. He has the obvious brackets and wires, but he also has springs and turbos (they prevent him from closing his mouth all the way due to a fairly severe overbite). I guess the springs are place holders for a couple of teeth that couldn’t be bracketed because of baby. He also has two springs in front, visible in the picture above, that are to move his front teeth the make room for the two teeth that are behind the others on the bottom front.